


If it's pure I'll feel it from here

by thundercracker



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Pronouns, Autistic Nautica, Gen, Noncanon Pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-11 00:23:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5606626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thundercracker/pseuds/thundercracker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a whole universe out there, when you look beyond the society you know; or, In which two Camiens change a Cybertronian weapon engineer's world for the better, one revelation at a time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If it's pure I'll feel it from here

**Author's Note:**

> This was published as the first part of a series, hence the summary, but I'm not able to complete it due to mental illness-related issues. It does work as a standalone oneshot.

“It just occurred to me that I’ve never seen your holomatter avatar,” Nautica stated expectantly. She and her friend had been sitting in the workshop for some time, one reading and the other tinkering in silence.

Brainstorm’s head tilted in consideration. “I haven’t either,” the engineer answered, optics focused on schematics for another theoretical weapon. It was supposedly impossible to make, but that had never stopped any ex-Kimia bots before. “Testing my own projects isn’t a hobby of mine.”

“You should try it! We both should,” the Camien encouraged, swinging her legs and propelling herself off the workbench she had claimed. She approached her fellow science-lover with a hopeful smile. “Come on. I heard some bots tried it out already on Hedonia and they’re all fine.”

“So far!” Brainstorm added pointedly.

“Come on. You’ve done far riskier things before. Don’t you want to see what you look like?”

The servos tracing the lines of weapon blueprints paused briefly. “Not particularly?”

“Huh. Is _that_ what this is about?” Nautica blinked and grinned. “I’m sure you’ll look fine.”

Brainstorm _hoped_ so, but wasn’t really sure. With the program reflecting the psyche, well. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight. But then again, Whirl had been one of the test group members and ended up… not _horrendous_. The human form didn’t look half-bad, actually.

“I don’t know…”

“I won’t force you, but what if we did it together?” the Camien girl questioned.

“Fine, fine,” Brainstorm acquiesced at last, finally looking up from the workbench. “Together.” 

 

* * *

 

It had taken time and preparations, but the two finally activated their solid light avatars. Together, as they had promised.

Nautica gasped at her friend, and Brainstorm’s optics—eyes, now—went wide.

“You look so… cute!”

And Nautica had thought the engineer was expressive before, but now, taking in the sight of the pseudo-organic before her, pulling the pumpkin-orange scarf in front of a mouth not used to being exposed, dark eyes staring down at the new body in wonder and not a small amount of surprise, she thought that perhaps the mech would have done well in Caminus’s dramatic productions.

The organic avatar was flat-chested and broad-shouldered but slightly shorter than Nautica herself; the artificial (still not that realistic) hair swooped upward, an ochre headband with a bow fixing what appeared to be unruly strands in place. The avatar’s skin was a medium brown—Nautica searched for a word to describe the shade, perhaps somewhere between fallow and fawn, settling for “tan” but not exactly pleased with her own description—and eyes a beautiful dark brown.

As for clothes, it seems Brainstorm’s psyche had good taste. The teal peacoat-style dress the avatar wore matched its owner’s usual paintjob and fit the wide shoulders well.

Brainstorm’s eyes drank in the sight and filled the genius with peculiar feeling—like a sudden realization that a creeping suspicion was correct, a burst of courage, the last push needed to finally go through with a long-procrastinated task.

“Nautica?” she asked, still looking downwards, “Can I talk to you about something later?”

  

 

* * *

 

“You mentioned that most Camiens go by ‘she’, right?” Brainstorm eagerly prodded later amid the noise of Swerve’s bar. The two had switched off the solid light avatars after they had gotten their fill, Nautica with her observations and Brainstorm with her boasting (after recovering from the initial shock), complimenting Nautica on her own avatar. “But not all?”

Nautica shook her head. “No, Caminus and many other colony worlds have various pronouns. I was surprised to find that Cybertron doesn’t—well, didn’t, before unaffiliated Cybertronians started bringing back cultural ideas from their host planets. Why?”

“Well—and this is between me and you, alright?” the scientist began, index servos held defensively before her face like goalposts. Her optics glanced sideways briefly. “Okay. You, me, and anyone in this bar who might be listening—and if you’re the last one I recommend you _stop_ …”

“Brainstorm.”

“Alright, alright. Just- I have a favor. Super small. Been thinking about it a while, but barely anything, really. Can you-” (at this point she had to take a small vent) “-can you try calling me ‘she’?”

The quantum engineer blinked her optics. “Like—‘Brainstorm is always in her workshop because she’s a weapons engineer?’”

Brainstorm’s optics turned gleefully overbright, indicating that yes, that was apparently exactly what she had meant. “That’s, yeah. Like that. Now, another small favor, just a teensy bit bigger, no big deal, but, maybe now always do that?”

Nautica held out a servo (she never was good at initiating physical contact, but luckily her friends had picked up on the meaning of her gestures) and Brainstorm clasped it in one of her own. “Of course!” she chirped with a smile.

The servo around hers tightened in excitement.

_She._

It felt right.


End file.
